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Territories
Duchy of Levin As mentioned previously, the Duchy is under the control of Duke Gorond Levin and his lands are quite small compared to other territories and nations. He is a paladin of Dragokar and his faith is unwavering. His people serve their lordship to the best of their abilities and he rewards them with his protection and gold coins for their hard work. The Duchy is only fourteen square miles of prime farmland, but that doesn’t mean that it is wide open country. The Duke planted trees around the territory, and with the help of a druid friend he made years ago, has grown those trees into giants that help shield his territory from prying eyes. Entering the lands, you must move through those sequoias, which tower 100’ above the earth and traverse one full mile in near darkness. The village of Levin is just outside of the keep that Duke Levin had built, but it is a simple village with kind and friendly people. There are little in the way of amenities there, but there is a small inn and a tavern. Travelers are welcomed initially, but newcomers are always checked out by Levin’s guard upon arrival. Questions are asked and answer must be given to their satisfaction, or the travelers are escorted out the same way they came in. Duke Levin is a good friend of the Dwarven Nation or anyone else who is of good alignment or who worship Dragokar. His faith in the Father of the Gods borders on fanatical at times, though he is not insane, he is just devout. His people aren’t quite as devout as he is, but most attend services each holy day and they try to live by the edicts passed down by Dragonkar himself. The resources in Levin are mostly what comes out of the ground, or in the form of livestock, but they do grow certain things there that they sell to others for a tidy profit. One of those is coffee beans. The soil is just right for growing it and the climate is perfect there. The coffee beans grown in Levin sell for 10 gold coins per pound and he produces more than 2,000 pounds per year. Wine is another resource that comes from Levin. The grapes grown there are sweeter than those grown anywhere else, due mostly to the chief brewer of Levin, who is an Elvenwood elf who has been growing grapes and making wine for four hundred years. D’milran, the brewer, learned the craft from his family growing up and when King Arlan VI was murdered, he left the forest, fearing that many other elves would be next. He wasn’t wrong. The chief trading partner of Levin is the Dwarven Nation and King Kronac Steelhelm. Since Kronac is the Chose of Dragokar, Levin practically worships the dwarf. Even though the Dark Alliance holds most human lands under its control, Levin travels to Dwarfhome twice a year to visit his old friend. Four times his party has been ambushed by Dark Alliance operatives and each time, Levin and his troupe have crushed them. For the last six months, there have been no attacks on him. Gordan's Hope In the year 1004, an island suddenly emerged from the Firedeep Ocean to the west of Greyfeather Island. Sailors returned to report this finding and an expedition was sent by King Jenek to investigate. When the expedition arrived, they found the land to be nearly pristine, with no signs of erosion or damage from behind beneath the waves for so long. The soil was fertile and crops grew in abundance. Wildlife was plentiful and roamed freely about the land. There were even small settlements with a mixture of humans, half-elves, elves , dwraves, gnomes and Halflings living in them, all getting along. On the east side of this island was a grove of trees with purple leaves growing on them and within that grove was a wizard’s tower. When the expedition leader attempted to make contact with the owner of the tower, he found himself back at the edge of the grove with no memory of how he got there. Contact was never made. When they asked the villagers about this tower, no one had a clue as to who it was or if there was even a tower there. They just knew that they had awakened from a deep sleep and found themselves there, and that things were good. Their last known recollections of their former life took place in Blackstone, a land that had been destroyed in the Great Sundering in 825. Falfarren During the time of King Kensak IV, the island to the very south of Greyfeather was discovered. When sailor stopped to investigate the island, they were ravaged by hoards of demons and never heard from again. Another ship went to find their friends and the same thing happened. The shipping company petitioned the king to find out what happened and he sailed there to find out. He had soldiers and allies with him, so he and they survived, but they left the island and never went back. The word went out that no one was to make landfall on the Isle of Dread. In 903, King Christopher met with Duke Kensak XIV in Portaraine and mentioned this island to him. He was planning to take an adventuring group there to see what he could do about the demon population himself, but he offered the first visit to Duke Kensak instead. Duke Kensak traveled there alone, and over three very exhausting days, managed to slay all of the demons that lived on the island. For his service, Christopher granted him the island as a reward. Rather than use the name his mother gave him, he chose the name his father gave him and it was his legal name, Rupert Rogers, and he proclaimed himself king of Falfarron, the name he gave to the land. He married the princess of Portaraine, Rhiannon, and the two settled in to build a nation from next to nothing. With the help of King Christopher and some lucrative trade contracts, the nation of Falfarren began to grow and prosper. Being an arch mage, King Rupert has used his magic to keep himself and his wife youthful and vibrant. The island now holds more than 15,000 people and has much in the way of trade goods to go around. Though Rupert and Christopher had a falling out at one point, the King of Falfarren still credits him with his kingdom and refuses to trade with the Dark Alliance and King Debren. Debren doesn’t like Rupert, either, but he knows that Rupert is a rather accomplished arch mage, so he doesn’t push it with him. Eighty percent of the land is settled and fertile, but the mountain range to the southern end is still a dangerous area to travel. Though Rupert did well to eliminate most of the demons on the island, he didn’t get them all. They fled to the south and took up residence in those mountains, where they wait to attack at first opportunity. Thought it’s been more than 100 years, demons have a long memory and a long life span. Having grown up in the era of his grandfather, Kensak IV, Rupert rules much as his grandfather did. He is kind To his people and treats them well, though he does tax them, as this is how he keeps the kingdom running. He is beloved by his people and they would defend him if he came under attack, even verbally. Rupert likes to move among the people, but he still takes a guard with him at all time. His wife, Queen Rhiannon, never goes to mingle with the people. He has no standing army, nor does he possess a navy, but he does have loyal guards what protect him and the cities of the land. Falfarren is much like Greyfeather was during the time of Kensak IV and it is a bit of a throwback to older times. Krellis This island sprang up off the coast of Whitefeather just two years ago (1004) with no explanation. No one has ever set foot on it to find out what is there or if anyone is there. It is a large land mass that is two days sail southwest of Whitefeather, and since Queen Evelyn has no navy at all, she can’t send an expedition to investigate. Lands of Weir As mentioned before, the Lands of Weir came about when Ebaneezer Weir left Greyfeather and traveled north to the five island chain to the north and east of the land. It is also been mentioned that he sided with the Dark Alliance when conflicts arose and he is considered an upstanding friend of the Dark Alliance for his aid and assistance. The lands themselves aren’t spacious, nor are they luxurious. Resources are a bit sparce, but Weir has an ace up his sleeve...he found a gold vein directly under Visolar, the eastern most island in the chain. Beneath the mountains there, his men found a rich gold vein that runs for several miles. He hasn’t told the Dark Alliance about it and he hasn’t told those who reside on the islands. He has only shared this information with his own men, and those who are paid handsomely to mine the ore for him. Also on Visolar is a smelting plant, to refine and mold the gold into whatever they wish it to be. Statues, idols, gold bars and even gold coins with a seal of Debren’s visage are available. The reason he has kept this secret is because he doesn’t want Debren to take control of the mine. Weir sells some of his gold to Whitefeather, through the standard trade network under an assumed name and company, so while he’s doing dirty business in Greyfeather, he’s doing a clean business in Whitefeather. His goal is to get wealthy enough to move his entire operation to Whitefeather, where there is no royal law to get in his way, and where he can operate out in the open without being spied on. Duplicitous as always, Weir usually changes tactics every so often, to make sure no one is watching him, or on to his schemes. He doesn’t trust the Dark Alliance, but he knows that he couldn’t operate without their vast resources, so he plays along with the game, but does his own thing behind their back. Weir only has one true enemy in the land and that is a man who refused a request he made fifteen years back when he was trying to earn a living in the gambling trade. That man is Balkor Limbspringer. Balkor went to his gaming house and shut it down immediately when he realized that Weir was rigging games in his favor. Without the starting capital required to run the house, Weir had to cheat to make enough to make it legit. Balkor wouldn’t allow this to happen and burned the gaming house to the ground. Weir swore he would find a way to get revenge on the elf, but to this day, he hasn’t found a way to do that. Although the population isn’t high, what is there is the criminal element of the land. Murderers, thieves, thugs and criminals of all types reside there and they thrive there, moving under the radar of all in the land. Weir doesn’t have a guard for the city, just for himself. If someone is accosted in the streets, they’re on their own, since there are no city guards and no watch. Weir has two caravel ships at his disposal, mostly for ferrying trade from his islands to the mainland so he can make his coins. He is always in the presence of at least six guards that he pays quite well and they will defend him to the death. They attack as Swashbucklers, with the same abilities. Portaraine This island has been a part of the Greyfeather Island since it began. The same year that Kensak I landed on Greyfeather Island, Nayton Portaraine found himself on the small island, also shipwrecked. It can only be assumed that they were on the same ship that sank just off the coast. Nayton went to work building a cottage from the trees around and finding food to eat. During his search for the latter, he uncovered a small hole in the ground and entered to investigate. Inside he found a sea hag who was guarding what appeared to be a diamond mine. Nayton was a fast talker and he struck a bargain with the sea hag. If she would relinquish the mine, he would do anything she asked of him. Weary from years of guarding the mine with no one to sell her riches to, she agreed to the bargain, but in the process, cursed the young sailor. She would give up the mine, taking only a handful of the larger diamonds with her, but he would endure everlasting life until a son was born to him. Until then, he would never age. Nayton accepted the bargain. For over nine hundred years, Nayton built the island into the land he wanted it to be. Sailors who sailed by realized the island was inhabited and stopped there. Over time, people began to migrate there and stay so they could live there in the tropical paradise that Nayton had built. And soon, Nayton found a wife. She bore him three daughters and since none were male, he would continue to live on, even after his wife and daughters perished from old age. Twelve wives and twenty-nine daughters later, Nayton was weary of living. He had watched so many loved ones die of old age while he remained young and vibrant. The diamond mine proved to be a boon for his island nation, but after so long, he just wanted peace. Finally, in 998, his fourteenth wife bore him a son. Within two weeks of the birth, Nayton died of old age. His son, just four weeks old, died of the fever, leaving only a female heir to his throne. Danielle Portaraine is the only living member of the family left, though the curse died with her father. She is unmarried and only twenty-four. She is incredibly beautiful, with long dark hair and sea green eyes, and she wishes to carry on the Portaraine name at some point. As a ruler, she is quite adept at negotiations. There is a standing trade agreement with the Greyfeather crown and she profits from that every year. The Dark Alliance approached her 1006 and convinced her to take a sabbatical, to get her away from the throne so they could place an alliance member in her stead, but once she returned just a year later, she unseated him and had him beheaded. By this time, Vecter was in the heavens and Debren was on the Greyfeather throne, so he had won anyway. He had the contract for the diamond trade no matter what. The island is only three miles wide and five miles long, but the diamond mine runs under the island from one end to the other, ensuring that they will never run out of gems to sell and keep the island in wealth for a long time to come.